New student accommodation in Liverpool & scrapping of council tax discounts

Posted: 08/08/2012

Liverpool City Council approved plans for Liverpool University and John Moores University to build new accommodation for their students. Liverpool University have £65 million to spend on three block of eight, nine and ten story flats which will accommodate 1,224 students.

There will be a range of living spaces including 4, 5, 6 or 7 bedroom flats with the added bonus of 131 small studio flats. However, Liverpool City Council expressed concern at the size of the studio flats as they are around 193 sq ft but the university assured the council that if they were built any larger, they would become unaffordable for students. The studios have been priced between £125 to £130 per week and the planning committee chairman has stated that the buildings will include ‘a little but of colour’.

Liverpool City Council recently gave the green light for a different project which includes 700 units for student. These ‘eco-residence’ will be built on the corner of Myrtle Street and cost around £40 million. The latest proposals that have been granted planning permission will be located on the corner of Brownlow Hill and Grove Street and are set to be completed by 2014.

Liverpool City Council’s planning committee have also approved plans to renovate the Tinglings Buildings and Crosshall Building on Crosshall Street and Victoria Street. This includes refurbishing 241 units with possible plans to extend to Wesleyan chapel which would provide an extra 67 units to be used for student accommodation. An additional part of these plans include renovating the derelict Octagon Building which is a Grade ll listed building which has the potential to hold 17, one bedroom flats.

In related news, students may have to pay council tax after the Government analysed how much extra they could gain if they scrapped could tax discounts. According to Chesterton Humberts research department, the Government could gain an extra £138,878,000 from students if they stopped their discounts. In the report, it also revealed that they could earn a further £418,968,502 from single occupancy accommodation if they removed current discounts.

If the Government went ahead with the removing discounts for students, foreign diplomats and prisoners, Chesterton Humberts predicts that they could earn a further £602,274,198 per year. However, it is unlikely that the Government will scrap council tax discounts but more likely that they could explore the removal of council tax discounts on second residences. If this was implemented over England and Wales, the Government could earn around £127 million.

What do you think of the latest developments in Liverpool that have been given the green light and what are your thoughts on the removal of council tax discounts?